Glass castle literary terms

Protagonist

The central character in a story, play, or novel.

Antagonist

A person or force working against the protagonist or main character.

Characterization

How an author develops characters and their personalities.

Direct

directly stated character trait for a character (said by the narrator or someone else in the story)

Indirect

The reader assigns the character trait based on the character’s action, speech, or relationship with others.

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces.

Internal conflict: 

Person vs. Self

External conflict

• Person vs. Person

• Person vs. Nature

• Person vs. Fate

• Person vs. Society

Plot

The sequence of events in a literary work

• Exposition: The essential background information at the beginning of a literary work.

• Rising action: The development of conflict and complications in a literary work

• Climax: The turning point in a literary work

• Falling action: Results or effects of the climax of a literary work

• Resolution/Denouement: End of a literary work/ when loose ends are tied up and questions are answered

Setting

The time and place of a literary work

Tone

The author’s attitude toward the subject of a work.

Mood

How a reader feels while reading. The mood is created by the author’s use of detail, setting, characters, etc., and the tone they create. 

Theme

A literary work conveys a message about life or human nature. It is a topic and insight given about that topic.

Point of view

• The vantage point or perspective from which a literary work is told.

  • First -person point of view: the narrator is the character (use of ‘I’

  • Third-person point of view: the narrator is outside of the story (use of ‘he,’ ‘she,’ ‘they’)

Figurative Language

• Language that represents one thing in terms of something dissimilar (non-literal language), including simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbol, pun, etc. ) 

Imagery

Descriptive language that utilizes any of the five senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, sight)

Flashback

The method of returning to an earlier point in time to make the present clearer.

Foreshadowing

A hint of what is to come in a literary work

Irony

• A contrast between what is expected and what exists or happens.